Mike Whaley: Backing down not in Bucky’s vocabulary

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Posted Oct. 22, 2012 at 3:15 AM

Posted Oct. 22, 2012 at 3:15 AM

Ronald V. “Bucky” Leonardi was no shrinking violet. Not even close.A giant sports figure behind the scenes in Rochester, Bucky died Oct. 5 at home after a brief illness. He was 78.More than 100 people showed up to honor Bucky’s memory last Thursday at the Rochester Elks Lodge — an impressive turnout for a weekday afternoon. But then again, Bucky touched a lot of lives and left a distinct mark.“As you can see, he’s got quite a few friends here,” said friend Rod Wotton, a Spaulding High School graduate, like Bucky, and a high school football coaching legend in Maine and New Hampshire. Bucky coached with Wotton at Marshwood High School in the 1970s.Bucky graduated from Spaulding in 1953. He served in the United States Air Force, and was employed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and later at Heidelberg Harris. He was a life member of the Rochester Elks, American Legion Post 7 and the Club Victoire. He is survived by his children, Christine, Ronald, Dino and Melissa.As for his nickname, he earned it growing up in Gonic, living with his grandmother, Jennie Harris. Some of the neighborhood guys would say “Hey, Bucky Harris”, after the old baseball player and manager of the same name from the first half of the 20th century. Bucky’s sporting resume in Rochester is indeed impressive. He played quarterback for the Tri-City Chargers semi-pro football team. He coached midget football and basketball, coached the Rochester Post 7 American Legion baseball team, and helped the late Bob Berry as a volunteer assistant with the Spaulding boys basketball team.He was on the organizing committee for the Rochester Slow-Pitch Softball League and assisted in the construction of Riverside Park on the Old Dover Road, which is still in use today by the local men’s softball league.Bucky was a long time member of the Rochester Athletic Association and served on the Rochester Elks Sports Hall of Fame Committee. He was actively involved in many of the Elks fund-raising activities.He managed the Allain’s Jewelry men’s softball team, which won numerous league titles and back-to-back ASA state championships in 1968 and 1969.“Everything he did in life was aggressive,” Wotton said. “He was 100,000 miles of rough road. He lived his life to the fullest.”He let you know about it, too.“Bucky let you know where he came from,” said friend and Elks member Bobby Bouchard. “But he was an honest guy.”“He was a taskmaster,” recalled friend Zane Chase, who played for Bucky on the Allain’s teams. “You always knew where you stood with him, right away. Bucky was Bucky. There was no other.”Bucky ran the Allain’s softball teams with an iron fist. There were team practices and the squad was held to a certain standard that Bucky made sure to maintain.“He was very firm,” Chase said. “We had practices and you had to be at practices.”“The whole team went,” recalled Cider Berry. “Bucky was the coach and you didn’t miss practice.”And you sure didn’t eat hot dogs on the bench during a game.That once happened in Nashua, said Chase.“There’s this guy eating a hot dog at the end of the bench; pretty good ballplayer, too,” Chase said. “Bucky took him out of the game. ‘You’re not eating no hot dog while we’re playing.’”His friend Lee Sanfacon recalled competitive softball days at Keay Field in East Rochester before Riverside Park was built.“He beat me most of the time,” Sanfacon said. “One time we’re calling each other names from dugout to dugout. After the game, we’re raking the field up. He lived around the corner at Keay Field. He said, ‘We’re having spaghetti, come over and eat.’ That’s the kind of guy he was. He was an impulsive type of guy.”Sanfacon recalled playing golf with Bucky, who was a hacker at best. “We’d play two or three holes and he’d say ‘I’m all done’ and go sit in the car,” Sanfacon said. “Two or three holes later he’d get out of the car and be back playing. He was impulsive all of the time.”Impulsive, but often with a touch of gold.Cider Berry recalled when his daughter Tiffany was born his wife Marilyn was having trouble breast feeding, so they were trying to get Tiffany to take a bottle. “Both of us were in a panic,” Cider said. “Bucky said, ‘For crying out loud, give her here. I’ll show you how to do it.’ Bucky gave my daughter Tiffany the first bottle she ever had.”Bucky was a feisty customer, never afraid of confrontation. Before Allain’s rose to softball prominence in New Hampshire, Weeks Ice Cream in Dover was the team to beat (back-to-back state champs in 1965 and 1966).Weeks was managed by Larry Redden, who recalled the first time he had a run-in with Bucky. The two teams were playing each other in a tournament in Lebanon. Early in the game, Weeks had an injury and Redden asked Bucky for a courtesy runner. Bucky agreed and the courtesy runner later scored a run. As the game progressed, the situation arose for Allain’s and Bucky asked the same favor.“I said no,” Redden recalled, who was playing third base. “Bucky made a beeline across the field to me. I said hold on, this is the way it is. You learn your first lesson playing this game: Don’t give anybody anything. We became best friends from that day on. He was fantastic. He was as honest as the day is long.”Bucky was a pretty good athlete, too. Cider Berry said he could have played anywhere on the Allain’s teams had he chosen to. Wotton recalled his ability as the quarterback for the Chargers.“He was quite a football player,” Wotton said. “I remember one game down in Springfield, Mass. They were called the Acorns and they had a lot of last cuts from the pros. Bucky put on a show. They couldn’t catch him. He ran all over the place. We got numbed, but he was the player of the game, I’ll tell you that.”

Coach, athlete, father and feisty friend. All those describe Bucky Leonardi, a passionate man who cared about Rochester and did his small part to make it better.“He was a scrapper,” said his son, Dino. “He was a good man. He made me what I am today.”“You knew where you stood with Bucky and he was honest and he gave you his opinion,” Bouchard added. “He worked very hard for things he believed in.”

Mike Whaley is the Sports Editor for Foster’s Daily Democrat and the Rochester Times. He can be reached at mwhaley@fosters.com.